"This Mysterious Life..."

"More and more,
this mysterious life comes together.
It may takes years to reveal the whole.
That's all right.
I'm prepared to go the distance.
Then with each step upon the path.
Certainty rings from peak to peak...".    D. Ming-Dao

"Messner's Own Questions & Answers..."

"The state of being active within life activates the fundamental questions of life...

But when I am up on a mountain, I rarely question what I am doing or why I am there. The climbing, the concentration, the struggle... those are the answers - because those are the basic purposes of life. In effect, I become my own answer." R. Messner

The nature of musing on such questions and answers seems to be a theme we all share as mountaineers... 

"A Further Compass..."

"Most Times,

the worst of situations,

can become a compass,

to the best of situations...". 

I. Izuakor

"Questions Only Moments Upon A Mountain Will Answer..."

That adventure day, I went back yet once more, as it seemed to echo out that there were questions only a mountain could answer.
It felt then that I simply had to return. 
I very much chose to go back, on a long solo climb, to a summit so very challenging for me. 
It had become clear that there were more things to ponder over. Other inquiries lingering in my mind. Some elusive musings yet to be grasped.
Much is called into question during our time away amidst such high place quests, and always within the far off wild places themselves. These are evidently real objectives for each of us, that most times also hold hidden gifts for both our wandering bodies and minds as well. 
We adventurers cross over so much terrain. Not just out there, but also with regards to the many truths we all ask about. Then we gaze towards the depths of understandings we each hope to eventually know.
We insight seeking creatures are both physical and spirited beings.
That is how we are made it seems.
So, on such adventure days of searching out, amidst our enduring curiosities and wild studies, when wanting to elicit a creative solution of some kind - it is time to return.
As there are some questions only moments upon a mountain will answer.
We all share in such wonderfully powerful, perpetual, wanderings towards our distant insights don't we my friends.....     DSD 

"Love The Questions Themselves..."

"Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart.

Try to love the questions themselves.

Do not now look for all the answers.

They cannot be given to you because you could not live them.

It is instead a question of experiencing everything.

At present we need only to live the question.

Perhaps, we will gradually, without even noticing it, find ourselves experiencing the answer, some distant day...".    R.M. Rilke

"Yet To Ask..."

"The wilderness. 
Holds answers to more questions than we have yet learned to ask...".   N. Newhall

"Of Questions..."

"It's the questions we can't answer that teach us the most.
They teach us how to think.
If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact.
But give him a question, and he'll look for his own answers...".   P. Rothfuss 

"Let Us Pause..."

"A mountaineer is one who seeks the freedom of the hills, full wilderness citizenship, with all its privileges and rewards, its responsibilities and demands." 
The Mountaineers

The freedom of the hills we all love and know,
Echoes with many brave voices now long gone,
So let us pause wherever we are on our shared trails,
To listen quietly in remembrance.......    

"When You Go Home..."

"When you go home, tell them of us and say, for their tomorrow, we gave all of our today...". John Maxwell

"Courage..."

"Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it has no release from those things, knows of the livid loneliness of fear, of unknown mountain heights - needs courage to grant it the joys to hear the sound of winds and wings up there...".  A. Earhart  

"Rememberings..."

"Through woods and mountain passes.
The winds, like anthems, roll...". Longfellow 

"Of Freedom..."

"All we have of freedom, all we use or know.
This our fathers bought for us.
Long and long ago...". Rudyard Kipling   

"Freedom Is Not Free..."

"Politics can be messy.
Democracy may have its flaws.
Freedom is not free.
Many have paid for this with their lives.
Yet it is better for all than what has been before...".  W. Churchill

"You Need Courage..."

"Whatever you do, you need courage. Whatever course you decide upon, there will always be someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising that tempt you to believe your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to the end, requires some of the same courage that a soldier needs. Peace has its victories, but it takes brave men and women to win them...".  R.W. Emerson 

"Returning To A Peacefulness...

"Over all the mountaintops is peace...
In all treetops you perceive,
scarcely a breath.
The little birds in the forest are silent.
Wait then, soon you, too,
Will have peace...".  
J. Von Goethe

So very many poets and philosophers, were first climbers and adventurers.
We sense why, don't we my Friends.
Dedicated this adventure day to all those who are enduringly Adventuring For Another Reason ..... DSD 

"There Is A Field..."

"Out beyond, ideas of wrongdoing and right doing...
There is a field.
I'll meet you there..".    Rumi

"Deeper Within Our Moments..."

"Deeper Within Our Moments..."

Back in those initial moments,
During all of that intensive preparation.
We each dreamed of eventually being on our way,
Towards a longed for journey of adventure - and then we began...
Up there in those unfolding moments,
Upon that long winding ridgeline,
Over rock we were not sure of,
We felt there would be so much energy and excitement - and there clearly was...
Amidst those very challenging moments,
Throughout the route, and then the crux of this chosen mountain.
We thought there would be those engaging sensations of such focus and concentration - and there certainly were...
Then deep within those forever moments,
Finally upon our so elusive summit.
Within that calmness of winds, clouds, and perceptions,
We hoped for those gentle emotions of contentment and connection - and now there always will be..... DSD 

Dedicated this quiet thanksgiving, as we reflect upon that which we appreciate , that which we are grateful for, and as we muse over the many meanings of our wonderful journeys. 
For the WWF , WSPA , IFAW , and Vital Ground .
For all of you too who are still underway 'Adventuring For Another Reason'. 
It is a privilege to share in your journeys .
It is an honour to know you all my Friends.......   DSD  

"There Is No Other Moment..."

“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this...".   H. D. Thoreau

"Moments, Only Moments..."

"To hear never heard sounds, to see never seen colors and shapes, to try to understand the imperceptible...
To hear another soul and to whisper to another soul.
To be a lantern in the darkness. Or an umbrella on a stormy day.
To feel as much as to know.
To be the eyes of an eagle. The slope of a mountain.
To be a wave understanding the influence of the moon.
To be a tree and read the memory of the leaves.
T0 be a moment saved without planning...".    D. Stojanovic

"Carried By The Wind..."

"Sometimes.
I go about.
Pitying myself.
While I am carried by the wind.
across the sky...".   F. Densmore

"Touch Of A Stone..."

"The truth is not in the touch of a stone, but in what the stone tells you...".   R. Denfeld